I agree, it's not the time to be saying stuff like this but to be fair Wakefield have been teetering on the edge for years but always manage to find someone to save them(until the next time).

Without wishing to speak for Vastman I don't think he's having a go at any club, just at an apologist who blames everyone and anyone for the failures of each successive incarnation of Bradford except the real culprits.....

Smokey

Who are the real culprits? We've heard so many theories. Whilst you're not speaking for others we might as well hear yours.

This could turn out to be a 3 way deal on the QT.

A buyer [i'allegedly'[/i wants the land for a Biomass Plant, but not a RL Club.

Another buyer [i'allegedly'[/i wants the RL Club, but only if liquidated & bought for peanuts. Possibly could entail not playing at Odsal.

The RFL [imay or may not[/i want rid of the lease & cash back in the coffers, especially as the lease is the cause, at least in part, of the conflict of interests the RFL have created with Bradford Bulls. The lease also appears to have been a major stumbling block in negotiations.

So there [i'possibly'[/i we could have the 3 parties who [i'may or may not'[/i have already thrashed this out behind the scenes, therefore * & if this is the case* liquidation could have been the best or only option.

Just a possible theory to muse over.

He is a fan of wakefield. His club have been suffering for decades. It wont be long until they are put out of their misery too. No fans, worst ground in SL and perennial challengers for the wooden spoon. You can understand why he is constantly moody

Regards

King James

I wouldn't have said it like that but I don't think he's having a go at the club. I'm sure he will clarify.

Personally, as a Wakefield supporter I feel for the Bradford fans.
I personally think the game would be better with a successful Bradford club, and by that I mean big attendances and no debts, not necessarily winning cups, though they tend to go hand in hand. I don't buy in to the conspiracy theory that the RFL or anyone else is out to get Bradford and I think until recently Wakefield and Bradford have had a pretty good relationship.

As for Wakefield we are suffering and have been for a while as is well documented. We are still at the low end of sustainability but what our current board have done is taken a poorly managed club with no beneficiary and made some hard decisions to make it sustainable. They had to let popular people go. They had to upset some fans with decisions on merchandise, and ticket prices, name of the club and even threaten to move away from the ground.
But at the end of the day, they put making the club sustainable over getting some success on the field. Now we are starting slowly to see some success on the field too.

We are hardly a club to use as a role model over the past 2 decades but right now, we are inching towards something better. I hope Bradford get someone in who can have the same philosophy. It will benefit the club, assuming there is a new club, in the long run.

Profligacy. It's always profligacy. Simple people need simple answers. Profligacy is a very simple answer that has the added bonus of justifying their schadenfreude and recasting the years of underinvestment and struggle at their club as a noble endeavour. If it's not profligacy then the real reasons might be deeper and more structural and they might require change that might not be solely in the interests of their fiefdom which is obviously unacceptable

The solution to profligacy is always 'cutting cloth accordingly' or 'take a step back and rebuild at a lower level' and when those vague soundbites inevitably fail to work you eventually 'start again from scratch'

In a little over 2 years the last owner managed to go from gaining the club essentially debt free to owing over £1 million! Fantastic business model there eh?

How about this quote from The RFL: [i"It (liquidation) is not an entirely surprising development given the scale of debt incurred by the previous management of the club and the debilitating level of financial commitment already entered into for 2017."[/i I think that might give you who a clue as to the real culprits.........

Indeed so. Everyone wants a morality tale in which they somehow knew all along.

Hence "IESTYN HARRIS!" all over FB at the moment.



Aye. Smart thing to do. Buy a shed load of it, cut it down and toss the scrap rather than just measure the bugger. It's what sound planning looks like.

Aye. Sounds like you've cracked it. Amazing insight with the "spent more than you have" analysis there. Thanks.

Odd that, as you say, it's never come up before and people are studiously avoiding blaming that situation or the people responsible for it.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/38508204

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/38508204

I suggest you try reading Smokey's posts........

I have. I find nothing wrong with them, at least within the normal constraints of having being written by Smokey.



I suggest you acquaint yourself with a world of complexity. It exists whether you can grasp multivariate causes or not.

"A decision is then expected within two weeks."

Awesome. Two weeks of prep for a season nobody really wants then.

Sounds like a solid basis for everyone to move forward.

I blame poor people for being poor, beggars for being beggars, losers for being losers.

They are the overspending authors of their own impoverishment and ultimate fate.

I can't believe the RFL are going through this charade for a team to play in 2017. Crackers.

Agreed.

Current timetable set forth by RFL is a decision on owner of new club two weeks on Monday, which is the 23rd January.

How long does that give the new owners to get a team together for start of new season?

The whole idea is insane.

I appreciate that in the context of what has happened to Bradford this may be seen as a small issue, but how are Hull KR supposed to market, promote and sell a game that may not even happen?

Lucky dip?

Pretty sure they've lined something up, behind the scenes, and they're working out how best to spin it. That's why they didn't just let Haven take the spot.

There's a part of me wonders if it's pre existing travel arrangements for the Toronto games that means it has to be Bradford. Maybe it's not that a team can't come up but that Bradford can't go down without confirmation of availability on given weekends, and that can't happen until they know where they're playing.

Maybe. Speculating wildly. Nothing else makes sense. Not even this, really.

RFL confirmed at a meeting with the scholars and academy lads yesterday that part of the criteria for selecting any bid would be maintaining the academy structure.

So if RFL are looking for a new owner to maintain the academy, stay full time, stay at Odsal paying a commercial rent, honour previously purchased season tickets, build the new club in four weeks all on 150k...


...can any of the geniuses on here or anywhere else explain to me how it's possible to "cut your cloth accordingly"?

It's doomed to fail from the start. RFL and the other clubs are just going to have to cut their cloth and do without Blackpool and lose 2 regular season matches each home and away. Otherwise they'll just reap what the sow and end back here again.

I've applied for my season ticket money back from the credit card company and I'm not sure I can sit through a side completely hamstrung being thumped every week until that's liquidated too.

A new club starting at the bottom, set up properly and having gone through the proper process of applying for a place would be a different proposition. I'd rather support a part time side in the bottom division that's got a chance of stability. In my opinion of course.

London went through this nonsense in SL and ended up getting relegated due to a lack of pre season. Had some good players too, Solomona, Vea, plus many others making a fist of it in SL today.

The Bulls should drop out of RL, reform and apply to come back in 18.

No one says you have to be full time. Not every team in Championship is full time IIRC.
And although your point is perfectly valid and highlights the issue the RFL need to help with, the objective is to get more than £150k. If there are no investors in the club and no gate money through the year to add to the £150k there is no point starting the season at all. It is just not a viable business.